I FIRST contacted the House of Automata to enquire about restoration of a mechanical silver bird from my Cabinet of Curiosities, which I recall sweetly singing when I was a boy, but which has sat silent these past few decades. Michael Start sent an estimate and suggested we pay a visit, so my wife, Helen, and I drove north to Forres on the Moray coast (she is keeper of the purse strings for my collections) and there, just off the high street, we entered a house of wonders.
An automaton is a mechanical figure that appears to come to life—part of a long tradition of kinetic art and engineered entertainment. Mr Start and his sculptor wife, Maria, now have the largest collection (more than 600 items) that is open to the public in the UK.
On admission, they give you a ticket bearing the image from the exhibit they think you most resemble. Alas, mine was a crazed, bald clown. However, this is very much in the spirit of this energetic and witty couple, who met when Mr Start (who had been a fireman down in Finchley, London, until he broke his back) was retraining as an horologist in Hackney. He was introduced to the esoteric world of automata by a flamboyant dealer called Jack Don- ovan, who had a stall in Portobello Market and, for some unfathomable reason, styled himself ‘The Man who Fought the Monkey in the Dustbowl’. Mr Start began to restore automata, as well as clocks, and started his own collection.
The age-old quest to create life is, of course, the stuff of legends, from Talos of Crete to Blade Runner, and history records such artefacts back in ancient times—Heron of Alexandria invented a mechanical owl, King Solomon had a bejewelled eagle that crowned him, Philo of Byzantium fashioned an air-driven serving maid, Leonardo da Vinci made a rearing lion for Louis XII and Jacques de Vaucanson fabricated a feeding and defecating duck.
Esta historia es de la edición August 21, 2024 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición August 21, 2024 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds